308 FANCY PIGEONS. 



in tlie Orient, and was probably first brought into commerce 

 from Bagdad. In Germany, it is chiefly at Niirnberg that 

 it is beautifully bred, a town wliicb, hundreds of years ago, 

 was in a lively commercial intercourse w«ith the Levant, and 

 has the merit of having introduced, and first bred, this stately 

 bird, where it is said to be still the favourite pigeon. The 

 beak must be beautifully bent, long, thick, blunt, and light 

 coloured ; the beak wattle must sit deeply below on the brow, 

 rather flat than high, heart-shaped, and not too broad ; the 

 head must be long and narrow, and, seen from the side, must 

 form a semicircle from the nape to the point of the beak ; 

 the eye wattle, or rose, must be large, flat, and regular, bright 

 red in early age, later in life rather white ; the neck long and 

 thin, and the chin adorned with a beard; the body must show 

 a broad back and breast; the ridge of the breast bone must 

 spring forth sharply ; the pinions must be narrow and short, 

 the tail short, and legs high. 



" If the brow and beak form an angle, if the crown has a 

 depression, if the upper mandible is longer than the under, or 

 if they do not fit close, these are faults which are opposed to 

 the beauty of the race." 



The only thing obscure in the above is the chin being 

 adorned with a beard, which word is used in Germany to 

 designate various properties in pigeons. If, in this instance, 

 it means the slight jew wattle inseparable from all abnormally 

 wattled pigeons, the less of it the better. I should say that a 

 clean-cut, hollow curve, from the point of the lower mandible, 

 down the throat, would look best. It is said that, in whole 

 colours, this pigeon is only found of the highest type all white. 

 The pied ones are the most valued, and on the regularity of 

 their markings fanciers set a high value. The chief marking 

 IS that shown in Mr. Ludlow's drawing, and may be described 

 as exactly the same as that of the Magpie Pigeon, except 

 that the head and upper neck are white. From low down 

 on the nape, the white runs down the sides of the neck. 



